Brenda Blagg: On the road to recovery

Ozark Regional Transit regroups after blaze

Public transportation isn't regularly on a lot of people's minds.

Most of us just jump into our private vehicles to carry us to work or other places we want or need to go.

Not everyone can do that, however, and the point was driven home last week when fire crippled one of the few options for public transit in this region.

Ozark Regional Transit, which has operated bus lines in Northwest Arkansas for decades, lost 20 of its 26 buses in an early morning fire in Springdale last week.

Joel Gardner, Ozark Regional Transit's executive director, fittingly described the scene as "carnage."

Strong wind had fed the fire among buses parked close together under a huge carport. The flames claimed one after another of the buses, their fiberglass skins melting and fuel tanks exploding, as local firefighters tried to contain the blaze.

Ozark Regional Transit began that day with just two serviceable buses and had to shut down most of its bus routes.

Consequently, a lot of the people who rely on the bus service to get them to work or to school or to a doctor's appointment or to any other place lost their rides -- at least temporarily.

Amazingly, Ozark Regional Transit still managed to run a couple of its routes the day of the fire, added more routes before week's end and expects to have buses running all 14 of its daily routes this week.

Most of the company's own buses are still burned-out carcasses lined up in the bus barn.

So how could they possibly restore service so quickly?

Ozark Regional Transit ran a couple of key routes the day of the fire with two buses that survived the fire. Four more were undergoing maintenance, which was sped up. But most of the buses that were brought into service last week and more to be added to the line this week are loaners, buses offered by others to help this carrier survive.

The buses have come from other transit providers, a church and an organization that serves the disabled. All have obviously recognized the difficulty the fire created not just for Ozark Regional Transit but also for its regular riders.

A woman interviewed about the fire's impact talked about how she and others in the homeless community in particular rely on the buses.

"I'm looking for a job," said Pamela Palasty at 7 Hills Homeless Center in Fayetteville. "I don't have a bus to ride, first to apply and then, second, to take the bus to work ...

"People, they do go forward but, with no bus, it's like it has shut everything down."

Fortunately, she nor the others were without service for long.

The University of Arkansas, which operates Razorback Transit in Fayetteville, pitched in two buses.

Gateway Church in Greenland and Open Avenues in Rogers each sent a bus. More came from Fort Smith and Pine Bluff in Arkansas. Others were sent from Oklahoma, Kansas and Kentucky.

There have also been offers of buses from Eureka Springs, Georgia and Alabama.

Even some of the drivers for Ozark Regional Transit, who lost hours when their buses were sidelined, have reportedly helped their co-workers, donating accrued vacation or sick time to cover missing hours.

Sometimes we forget how much individual people and organizations can and do help each other. This experience is a big reminder of what a difference such outreach can make.

This week, those people who lost their rides will get them back, albeit on different buses than they are accustomed to.

They will get to work or school or to that doctor's appointment or wherever else they need to go, thanks to public transit.

Those drivers will have jobs and Ozark Regional Transit, despite this nightmare of an experience, will keep rolling.

In the meantime, investigators and insurance inspectors are still looking for the cause of the fire and trying to determine its cost.

All these loaner buses are just a temporary fix in what could be a long rebuilding process for Ozark Regional Transit.

Nevertheless, as Gardner said immediately after the fire, "We'll recover. It's as simple as that."

Commentary on 01/15/2017

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